The word ‘squaw’ now banned from names of rivers, lakes and more across US
More than 600 U.S. locations, including mountains, lakes and streams, have new names, according to the Department of the Interior.
The move marks the final step in a monthslong effort to remove the term “squaw” from federal use, the Sept. 8 statement says.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary, announced in November that she was seeking to replace the names of federal lands that included the word, which is considered disparaging and dated. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines it as an offensive term for “an Indigenous woman of North America.”
Shortly after the announcement, Haaland appointed a task force to “review and replace derogatory names” of U.S. geographic features. The task force included representatives from the Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, among other groups, according to the statement.
After a period of public comment and tribal consultations, the task force recommended replacement names to the Board on Geographic Names (BGN), a federal body under the Interior Department that upholds uniform usage of geographic names. On Thursday, Sept. 8 the BGN voted on and released the list of final replacement names, which, according to the statement, are effective immediately.
“I feel a deep obligation to use my platform to ensure that our public lands and waters are accessible and welcoming,” Haaland said in the release. “That starts with removing racist and derogatory names that have graced federal locations for far too long.”
More than 200 streams and 100 summits, in addition to swamps, valleys, islands and lakes, among other features, were renamed, with the majority of features concentrated west of the Mississippi River. Some of the novel names are Porcupine Canyon, Arizona; Olympic Valley, California; and South Island, New York.
The BGN has previously replaced other derogatory names, according to the department’s statement, including in 1962 when Stewart Udall, secretary of the interior under President John F. Kennedy, directed the body to eliminate the use of another racial slur.
More recently, the tallest peak in North America, formerly known as Mount McKinley and named after the former president and Ohio native, was renamed. Sally Jewell, the secretary of the interior under President Barack Obama, renamed the Alaska peak Denali after bypassing the BGN for failing to act on the request in a “reasonable” period of time.
This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 3:12 PM with the headline "The word ‘squaw’ now banned from names of rivers, lakes and more across US."